driver's license. she's driving the school today. >> in baltimore, maybe first day driving in a nor'easter isn't the best way to get started with the new license. >> how more. >> steve in florida. promised myself to stay up until florida results posted. does scarborough have this much sway? call it off, akle rod, for the love of god. >> you know about this bet. joe and david axelrod have this bet. there's debate about the legalese, the language. joe said if mitt romney loses north carolina and florida, joe will grow a mustache. now, there's some thought that he might have said if he loses north carolina and/or florida. in that case, joe would already have to grow the mustache. we're going to work through all this right now on "morning joe." ♪ i'm extraordinarily disappointed. i put a lot of time and effort into the mitt romney campaign from last october going to new hampshire to endorse him through my last trip for him the friday

before the storm in north carolina. i was surprised, you know, that it ended as quickly as it did. but that's the way it goes. people decide elections. and so my job as an elected official is to move forward after that. i'm not going to spend a lot of time looking in my rearview mirror. it doesn't make sense. it's not productive for the people who have elected me. >> all righty, then. good morning. it's thursday, november 9th. a snowy day on the east coast. you're looking at danbury, connecticut. can you believe this? >> no, i can't. >> november 9th. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle and national affairs editor for "new york" magazine and analyst john heilemann. and we have a weather story to start with. >> this is the new normal. >> it's unbelievable. >> across the northeast and connecticut last year, we had a hurricane first, and then we had a snowstorm at the end of october. the same thing's happened again. i mean, the fact that people on

long island, people on staten island, people across new jersey have no power right now and are having to deal with another nor'easter, this time they're shivering in their homes instead of what we always did in florida which was sweat in our homes. much better. >> in some places there's no place for people to go. it's a devastating situation. we begin this morning with hundreds of thousands of americans remaining without power during an unseasonably cold spell in the northeast. adding to the damage left by hurricane sandy. a nor'easter blew through the east coast yesterday, dumping snow and rain on a region that's barely begun to dig out from sandy. we've got new pictures from staten island where several inches of wet snow are threatening to topple already weakened trees. power was knocked out to some 60,000 homes in newark and new jersey overnight. many of which had just had their service restored after many days in the dark. there's also renewed headaches for millions of commuters as

passenger trains grind to a halt, and at least 1,300 flights are kept at the gates at the airports. let's go to meteorologist bill karins for a look at what is unfolding here. bill. >> good morning. before i get to the details, talking about joe's point there, nine days apart between these two events. i can almost guarantee you go back through history of hurricane landfalls, and i don't think any area has ever seen a snowstorm nine days after they dealt with a storm surge like we had with sandy. i mean, it's just ridiculous that it even happened. we showed you how rare of the times we are in. the fact you think about what happened to this region the year before that with irene and then that freak halloween snowstorm, makes you scratch your head. the details this morning to get you out the door. i know a lot of schools have delays. and that's because the snow is ending, temperatures are warming up. we're supposed to go into the 40s today. that's why a lot of people didn't get school cancellations. you see the white. the snow has ended in all areas with the exception of connecticut. you see the spin south of the

island. it's still very close there to cape cod. so as far as the snow totals, really impressive for this time of year. i mean, we talked 6 to 12 inches in many areas of central and western connecticut who is by far the hardest hit. a couple random reports, high totals in new jersey, but even new york central park, only five inches of snow this time of year is virtually unheard of. and it was the heavy, wet snow and there were some downed trees. i mentioned winds. if we're going to get any more damage, it's out there on cape cod. they're kind of battle tested. they're used to 50 to 60-mile-per-hour gusts. in general, things will improve. this afternoon we go up into the 40s. i think the airports will be running no problems as we go throughout the late morning into the afternoon. the roads will dramatically improve. and tomorrow looks to go up into the 50s, guys. nea there's no more storms on the horizon. we warm up towards the 50s and 60s towards the weekend. nine days apart is ridiculous. >> it is ridiculous, bill. and again, you look at what happened last year where we had

a hurricane in september. again, in new england. >> yeah. >> and then a snowstorm three weeks later. now it's nine days apart. we're looking at these pictures. >> this is what's supposed to be inside people's homes. >> yeah, inside people's homes. you know, bill, you and i have actually -- gosh, we've gone through actually a lot of hurricanes together. certainly when i was in florida talking about them. and when you usually deal with a hurricane, and i've probably been through five, six, seven in my lifetime, you're used to the power going out and basically taking off as many clothes as you can, wearing shorts around the house. >> humid. >> because you're sweating. it's 95. it's humid. it is just miserable. but that is so much better now than what people are facing. this is a nightmare scenario. if you've never been through a hurricane -- and even my friends in florida that have been through so many, i can't imagine the pain and misery and the suffering that people across this region are experiencing

right now without power, with freezing temperatures, with snowstorms. this is so dangerous. >> i mean, you live in new england, and we haven't been hit by a lot of hurricanes, but historically they have happened through history. if they do, usually they're typically in the month of september. so sandy was about a month later than what maybe we typically would find a hurricane. and this nor'easter was about a month earlier than we would typically find a nor'easter. so just the weather patterns, just the extremes, you know, really are getting everyone's attention. >> all right. we'll follow this throughout the morning. bill, thank you very much. we'll turn to politics now. aside from the presidential race, we're going to dig further into the significant races in the senate where democrats had some big wins on tuesday and also a lot of women are now joining the fray. >> they really are. >> in virginia, former governor tim kaine beat former senator george allen. voters in massachusetts selected elizabeth warren to replace incumbent scott brown for the seat formerly held by the late ted kennedy.

in north dakota, heidi heitkamp beat rick berg. in held off a tough challenger from congressman denny rehberg. and claire mccaskill beat todd akin. >> let's let that one breathe for a second. >> why don't we. >> let me just say as probably the lone registered republican sitting not only at this table but in this zip code, thank you, todd akin. thank you for selfishly putting yourself above your party and the values that you claim to hold dear. you just gave up yet another senate seat for the republican party to harry reid. todd, thanks a lot, pal. the rest of the world knew you were going to lose, and you decided to do it anyway. >> right. and i'll add to that, if i could, to be completely annoying, i'm sure, but thank you, todd akin and richard

mourdock and thank you republican party for not breaking their arms and getting rid of them and instead focusing on people like chris christie who were just doing his job. >> again, this is a problem. it's a branding problem. and john, you know, we all are basically in the zone for 48 hours. we're reading information as it comes in. we're on the air more than we're not. i just woke up early this morning, and i can explain the presidential race. i've been explaining it for two years. we had a very flawed guy at the top. if it were only that easy. you have to look, though, at the senate race to see just how devastated the republican party's brand has been over the past year. and look at these senate races one by one by one. and as john cornyn said, you can't blame one wing of the party because the entire party had people from all different wings getting slaughtered yesterday. again, in senate races. >> well, yes.

and i think it's a branding problem, and it's more than a branding problem because the branding problem is connected to problems of substance. you know, i mean, todd akin should have stepped down, but he shouldn't have ever been the nominee of the party in the first place. he made a ridiculous, horrific statement, but he sponsored legislation that arose out of the beliefs that made him make that statement. and what has happened with your party, unfortunately, is that -- and we've talked about this on the show before increasingly -- the most conservative person no matter how nuts they are is the person who wins republican primaries now. that's not a way to win in purple states or in blue states. you can still win in red states sometimes with the most conservative person. but in a state like missouri which is still basically a purple state or a state like indiana which went for obama in 2008, if you nominate the most conservative person on the farthest right wing in your party, that person's going to get beat by a reasonable democrat. that's what happened. >> it is a shame there was a time when republicans, when even

conservatives, would listen to the wisdom of william f. buckley that would always say you don't elect the most conservative guy or woman. you elect the most electable conservative guy. get him as conservative as you can. but a guy that can win in northwest florida like myself by 80% is not the guy you want to nominate in southern california. >> what did haley barbour say about jim jeffords in vermont? >> again, during this presidential process when i was asking olympia snowe or asking a candidate about olympia snowe, are you glad she's in your party? he wouldn't answer. >> right. >> and then we asked haley who said, "hell, yeah. i'm glad olympia snowe is in our party and i wish jim jeffords was, too." even on his most liberal day, jim jeffords was going to get elected more than anybody in vermont. >> do you think -- what's the time frame here? is it that the republican party has perhaps a year and a half to

sort of figure out what direction they're going to head in? a year and a half before the leaders of the republican party go to the front window of the club that they belong to, open up the drapes and look out on main street and see the reality of life in america today? >> this happens all the time. i mean, i remember getting elected in 1994. you know, "u.s. news & world report" had a cover talking about the end of the democratic party. you remember 1980. >> yeah, yeah. >> people were saying the same thing about the end of the democratic party. two years later in 1982, democrats had a massive landslide victory. the same thing happened in 1996. bill clinton got elected. these things come and go. parties adjust. and this republican party will adjust. >> it needs to adjust. >> remember, two years ago -- and i hate to say this -- i've been saying this for four years -- two years ago republicans picked up historic gains in off-year elections. and i said yeah, we did that in 1994.

then we lost in 1996. and the same thing has happened. the question is, willie, do they adjust? alec baldwin had a hilarious quote. did you see this quote? >> yeah. which one? >> yeah. what is the exact quote? >> something you like you know your party's in trouble -- >> when you ask -- >> how did the rape guy do, and you have to say "which one?" >> which one? i can't hammer this home enough. i've done it for four years. there is a difference between off-year elections and presidential elections. republicans can win in off-year elections because the electorate shrinks. the pool shrinks. but when you get in presidential elections, it's, like, you know, it's a rising tide. >> and it's a different electorate. it's a different electorate. >> it is a much different electorate. >> and it's not something that's going to be reversed overnight. i mean, they lost 70% of latino voters two nights ago. so as we said yesterday, you can't just put marco rubio out

four years from now and say look, we've changed. there actually has to be change. whether it's on immigration reform or whatever they're going to do, it has to come from a place of meaning and not just something that's sort of superficial. >> you know where i think the party is right now, if you think about where the republican party is, the democratic party was in this place after 1988. they had lost three successive presidential elections, and the party was out of step with america. you know, it had this retrograde base that was dragging it down. and it wasn't where the vital center -- >> the san francisco democrats. >> yes, right. and the old labor base and all that stuff. it was a mess. and you needed to have a modernization of the democratic party. bill clinton led that modernization. the dlc took the democratic party and made it electable again in national elections. presidential election years with the big electorate, not the small electorate. that has to happen in the republican party. and it's not a question of moderation as much as it is modernization. >> and what is so insane, mika, is that the republican party's -- the republican party that i belong to, that ronald

reagan belonged to, our message is a message that would resonate so much with latino voters if we would get out of the way. these are hardworking immigrants. they are chasing the american dream. they are working around the clock. a lot of them bringing their kids here for a better life. they are religious. high number of them are religious. they are good, solid conservative catholics. and we republicans have worked overtime. >> to alienate them. >> to chase them. we have had to work so hard to chase away latino voters. >> it's unbelievable. >> it started with pete wilson, and it continued with mitt romney, just taking an asinine position in the republican primary and never being able to recover from it. >> but joe -- >> i can't add to that. >> -- when you talk about that specific issue, let's talk about

latino voters. >> by the way, it cost us the election. >> it absolutely cost you the election. >> i can't believe if we had john mccain's percentage of latino voters. >> is it not a problem for the republican party in that the loudest voices within, if you want to call it the framework of the republican party, are voices on the radio or on tv had it comes to issues that affect that specific aspect of our population, build a wall. self-deport. get buses. get them out of the country. is that not a huge problem? >> you know, it's a huge problem if your elected leaders ckowtow to them. >> it's also why you take hits and get called names. >> i got 80% of the vote in the republican primary. anybody that ever took that

attack against me when i was in office got rolled over, got crushed because you know what? you can take it to the people. and if you believe what you believe, they'll listen to talk radio. they'll watch certain stations. but at the end of the day, if the leaders have the guts to do what's in the best interests -- and mike, this is a great point, and this is where the party needs to go as they move forward. leaders need to understand, talk radio hosts, people that write books, people that have tv shows that are ideological, it's niche marketing. and they make a lot of money. and i've got no problem with people who make a lot of money on tv. or radio. or with books. in fact, i encourage it! i encourage it! it's good for america! but politicians need to understand, they are niche marketers. they are selling to a niche.

if you are driving around listening to four hours of talk radio every day, you don't live like the rest of us that work. i mean, which is fine. i've got no problem with it. >> here's my problem. >> for too long people have said you know what? since they're selling a lot of books, they must be telling us what we need to do in elections. >> the people who are listening to people on the radio all day, they're leaders in your party. that's the problem. because if you look at what's happening, it's the problem. >> they're scared. >> they have a little, tiny, skewed box that they live in. and the rest of america -- >> they don't listen to that. >> you know what? >> i was there. i was there. i was in congress. they don't listen to it. they're scared of it. they don't listen to it. they don't watch it. but they kowtow to it because they're afraid. >> i'm going to give you an excuse for why they are the way they are, but if you don't listen, that's great. you look at what's happening with chris christie, i know a hairdresser from northern new

jersey who did not vote for him, neither did her mother, she will now after what she just saw through this storm. and the republican party, they're so worried about what happened symbolically, they missed an opportunity because they're scared. >> willie geist, haley barbour said it. i talked to a hard-right conservative state party leader yesterday out west who says i finally get it. like haley always said, it's not about subtraction. it's about addition. addition. how do you pull more people to the republican party? how do you pull more people to the conservative movement? as i say, if you're going to play, play to win. how many times have you heard me talk about the suburbs of philadelphia? bucks county. the i-4 corridor. i say it all the time. and i say it all the time for a reason. >> yeah. >> sean hannity wouldn't win bucks county, pennsylvania. i wouldn't win the i-4 corridor. he makes lots of money. and i've got no problem with

that. but it's niche marketing. if we want to expand the base, wrooef got we've got to win bucks county, the i-4 corridor, the swing districts. >> you've got to get your head out of the sand first. >> and we'll do it, but we're not going to do it by playing the subtraction game. we've got to do it through addition. >> and there are a lot of smart republicans like barbour who over the last 36 hours have identified the problem. they recognize it. but to your point, the very people you're talking about are still hanging on. it was chris christie's fault for throwing his arms around president obama. it's the media's fault. and yes, it's the fault of the new black panther party, the couple of guys with the berets. >> there was one, actually. >> voter suppression. >> there was one. he had a walker. >> but that's your point. that's your point. they're still blaming those things for a much greater problem. >> hey, let's make this personal, okay? let's talk personally. they spent a week and a half saying we doctored a tape here. >> i know. >> no, hold on a second. this is important. >> i'm agreeing with you. >> this is important.

i listen to the tapes -- it sounds like lying to me, i don't know, but they spent so much attention. i said, listen, guys. first of all, i told you, i'm voting for romney. you're spending this much time and this much energy trying to find conspiracy theories? how many times did they say the polls were rigged? how many times did dick morris say the polls were rigged? how many times did -- i could list 1,000 people on the niche conservative right that makes millions of dollars doing this. they would have a different conspiracy theory every day. you know what obama's people were doing while they were chasing conspiracy theories? >> registering voters. >> they were registering voters. they were putting yard signs in yards. >> crazy kids in chicago. >> they were i.d.'ing loyal democrats. we have got to stop with the conspiracy theories. stop blaming the media. reagan did pretty well with a media that hated his guts. >> just to add to what willie said and to add what you've said, beyond all of that, you can't even just blame mitt romney because it's not -- he was a flawed candidate.

the party in total has this problem. they are increasingly out of step with what the american electorate is going to look like more and more every four years. it's going to be browner. it's going to be more female. it's going to be -- it's a different america. and if the party loses 70% of hispanics, 70% of asian-americans, 80% -- 85% of african-americans, you're just going to look up. the party's going to be extinct soon. with those numbers, we are headed towards a majority minority country. if you can't speak to that coalition that the obama people own right now, you will not be a viable party two generations from now. it's that acute. that's how clear it is. >> thousands of hispanics are turning 18. >> every day. >> every day. >> every day. >> every day. and the republican party can decide how it wants to look. but i will tell you, it doesn't get easier four years from now.

it's about addition. it's not about subtraction. >> mm-hmm. >> unless you're into niche marketing. >> yes. >> and i'm not. as i -- well, i won't even say where i think he is now -- but we had a politician in northwest florida, w.d. childers, that would go around saying i want all the money, and i want all the votes. >> okay. >> no, it's important. it's about addition. and we have got to stop list listening to people that engage in niche marketing and make millions of dollars engaging -- i'm serious -- they engage in niche marketing. they make millions of dollars, and god bless them because i'm a capitalist. >> niche marketing and the big problem for the republican party is you can't be successful in any line, politics, sports, i don't care what it is. if your basic platform is a fear of the future. >> all right. before we go to break, speaking of addition, five -- five new women senators joining the conversation in washington which

is fantastic news including elizabeth warren, tammy baldwin, deb fischer, heidi heitkamp. >> that makes it 20, mika. >> well, we're getting there. >> the whole congressional delegation in new hampshire. >> isn't it an incredible story? i love it. all you've got to do is get in there. all you've got to do is get in there. >> look at that. >> this changes the whole tenor of the conversation, and we get more women in there and equalize the numbers, it will help prevent some of the problems we've had in the past. we all know what we're talking about. coming up on "morning joe" -- >> i would think you would move away from new hampshire, barnicle, given your past. >> actually, new hampshire won't let you in. senior adviser to the obama campaign, david axelrod, joins us. san antonio mayor julian castro considered to be many to be one of the rising stars the democratic party. msnbc political analyst richard wolffe and nbc chief white house

correspondent, chuck todd. up next, mike allen will join us with the "politico playbook." and doris kearns goodwin joins us on set. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. this family used capital one venture miles

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that's double miles you can actually use! how illuminating. what's in your wallet? let me guess, am i on the naughty list again? ho ho ho! time now to take a look at the -- >> hold on. i've got to stop. we have breaking news here. willie geist and i, we're going to get to the papers in a second. >> i'm trying to count the times i've been interrupted today. i think we're at 32, and it's only 27 past the hour. congratulations. >> this is big. >> you just interrupted me four times. will you not let somebody else talk? listen, willie geist and i are journalists first. i think you have to put a capital "j." >> i'm trying to hear what you have to say. >> there's a recount going on in

florida. let me tell you something, there are millions of people in florida who don't know whether their vote has been counted or not. willie geist and i as journalists feel like we have a responsibility to our people. our flock. willie, tell them where we're going to be "morning joe" for the next month or so. >> much like there was 12 years ago, there's a recount perhaps about to go under way in the state of florida. >> yeah. >> we need to be there. and we need to be there until the last vote is counted perhaps for months afterward. >> i think we have to set up shop in a pool. >> a pool maybe for the first week. >> delano. then go on up to palm beach. >> yes. >> because this buchanan thing, you don't know. you know, right now there are over 8 million american citizens whose vote does not matter. as you guys know, i've been a champion fighting against this voter suppression thing. i have. it matters to me. what? it matters to me greatly. we've got to go down to palm beach.

>> i actually think the voter suppression story is important. >> it is. why do you think there are 8 million floridians? >> as soon as possible. >> who else will cover the disenfranchised? >> we'll be as long as it takes. >> idiots, stop. >> we're going to set a hard deadline. >> a lot of people are concerned about the old black panthers in philadelphia, the one guy with the walker. i'm concerned about 8 million-plus voters. >> it is now too old, your joke. it's time. >> i'm going to palm beach. >> wrap it up. i'm tired of it. "usa today," airlines are expected to carry nearly 24 million passengers over the thanksgiving holiday period. up to 150,000 passengers from last year, but travelers will also be playing more for the flight. the cost of round-trip tickets expected to rise nearly 9% from the same time last year. >> and "the denver post," colorado officials prepare to square off with marijuana enthusiasts over the new measure legalizing pot for recreational use. more than 50% of colorado voters said yes to amendment 64 which

lets individuals over the age of 21 possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow their own. >> okay. >> according to federal law, marijuana is still an illegal drug. with us now, we've got presidential historian -- >> yea! >> -- and author of "team of rivals," doris kearns goodwin. >> the women in the senate, isn't it exciting? >> i think we're on the way. on the way! >> on the way to where? >> out of all the messes that you make of this country. >> so barack obama not only got re-elected, democrats made gains in the senate when they were expecting to lose. was this second election confirmation of an obama realignment? >> it looks that way. i think it does look like the coalition has been tightened up. nobody thought it was all going to come out in the same degrees that it did before. and i think it shows that despite everybody claiming there wasn't that much enthusiasm, there really was. he has done a lot in this first four years. i mean, this means obamacare is now there. >> that's it. >> it means we're not going to

go back on contraception and abortion. it means that gay rights is going forward. whatever he does in the second term to solidify his historic legacy, he's already got something. >> the reagan majority ma dominated american politics from 1980 through 2008, while a lot of its ideas will continue to influence conservatives and i independe independents, that majority is dead, isn't it? >> i remember when he was elected the first time, obama, i really thought we were ushering in a progressive era. it seemed like even before he was elected, people were feeling better about government doing more to equalize things in the society. but then with that midterm election -- >> by the way, she's writing a biography of george w. bush. >> it's called more better. >> she's getting into it. >> but anyway, it did seem like -- >> are our children more better? go ahead. >> may i continue? >> no. apparently not. >> i'm sorry. but anyway.

>> wait till there's five women sitting here. >> i know. we're getting there. >> it does seem like there has been a greater sense of what government needs to do to equalize things in society, to help get jobs going forth. and then it got sort of stymies by that midterm election. but i think it's back out there now. now the question is he's got to build on that mandate. and i think there are things he's got to do. i mean, i think he's got to make that white house a political asset. i would bring every single republican and democrat, have them sleep there just like lbj. they come for breakfast, lunch, dinner. he's also got to mobilize that base and keep it going. >> that is so important. willie, lbj did it. of course, reagan did it. bill clinton. you could impeach him one day, he'd be inviting you to play golf with him the next. and this president, over the past four years, has not done it. it certainly sounds like yesterday was a tipoff that he's ready -- he's ready to go. he's ready to engage. >> he spent a lot of time with bill clinton over the past couple months. maybe some of it rubbed off on

him. we heard words from john boehner. we'll see if it's followed by action. we're talking about we're ready to sit down and make a deal. we'll follow your lead, mr. president. we want to bring in mike allen down in "politico's" newsroom. good morning. >> good morning, guys. >> there have been a lot of grand claims and proclamations over the past 36 hours. the republican party's dead. they can't recover. they've lost latinos forever. texas is a swing state now. put it in a little perspective for us. how bad are things at this moment? >> well, republicans recognize that things are really bad, as we've heard from the conversation here. they think that it's in freefall, and there's so many different parts that all have problems. you've talked about the demographic problems, this problem with the donors who gave a billion dollars, the outside group structure is clearly broken. >> that didn't work well. >> no, and i'll tell that you donors are angry about it. and somebody told me yesterday,

donors -- and joe, you'll appreciate this -- donors are scorekeepers. and for the people who gave the billion dollars to republicans, they're very unhappy. and there's a real vacuum now in washington for republican power. it's on the hill. where i think you're going to see younger leaders -- >> mike, and the argument is by some that, well, it would have been a lot worse if they hadn't given us a billion dollars to spend of their money. i can tell you, i've raised money from guys and women that have made a lot of money. that don't work. i mean, republicans got wiped out. and it couldn't have been much worse. >> right. and do you really want to spend a billion dollars to keep romney from falling off a cliff in august as opposed to falling off a cliff in november, which he did? but here's a whole another piece of the republican party that's broken. and that is the machinery in

addition to the appeal to these broad array of demographic groups that democrats clearly had. look at the mechanical problems that republicans have. luke franz of resurgent republican group started in part by eddie gillespie had an amazing analysis of the ohio exit polls that showed the power of the obama machinery. we are all used to people who talk big and don't deliver. the obama machinery delivered. and look at this little sliver. in ohio. >> right. >> the african-american vote is 12% of the population. they turned out 11% in 2008. they turned out 15%, more than the population on tuesday. and if the number of african-americans in ohio was the -- who voted was the same as in '08, romney would have won ohio. that's a mechanical turnout operation. >> i mean, the most stunning part of this is barack obama's

turnout operation and his political team, what they did was nothing short of extraordinary. extraordinary. but mike, look at these numbers. 2006. democrats won independents by 16 points. in 2010, republicans won independents by 16 points in the off-year election. two years later, republicans are wiped out. you have parties that rise and parties that fall. not in 40-year increments like we were used to. in two, in four-year increments. >> yeah. and you have to think that part of that must be rooted in the rhetoric, the language that so many americans heard for so many months in the republican primaries. you know, that scared some people among us, a lot of people among us, clearly. so my question to you, doris, in terms of history, the language of this campaign sometimes verging on the abusive to us, the voters, it's not new in history. it's not new in campaigns.

i mean, lincoln heard it running for office. >> no. in fact, we sometimes we look like we're wimps now when we get upset if somebody calls somebody a bad name. in the 1850s, they had revolvers on the floor of the senate. they're telling people, you're traitors. but the thing that's happening differently now i think is that parties used to be a part of who you were in the 19th century. you were a catholic or a protestant, you were a republican or a wig or a democrat, your neighborhood, it was a part of your identity. that's not true anymore. i think that's what allows you to sway every two years from one to another because it's not as much a part of who you are. it used to be entertainment. we didn't have sports back then. the games were people getting out on rallies and going to big parties and talking. that identity has gone from us. so it's going to happen this way continually. >> and by the way, the hispanic vote which we lost, you get the right candidate, you'll be back up to 35%, 40%. people as always act -- and we

were talking about 1980 when it was all over for the democratic party. in 1988 when it was really all over for the democratic party. and then 1994 when it was really, really, really all over. >> really, really, really. >> for the democratic party. then in 2020 when it was really, really, really, really all over for the democratic party. it's never over, but the parties have to adjust. >> but the big challenge i think for the leadership for the president now is that bases out there, they have to keep mobilized. he said to them that night, your work is not done. you're not just voting as citizens because the only way he's going to get change in washington -- he can play the inside game for a while, maybe boehner will do something, maybe they'll make a deal, but to really make it happen, he has to mobilize pressure from the outside in. teddy roosevelt was out there mobilizing the people against his own conservative party, the republican party, to get regulation passed, and that's what he's going to have to do, too. >> thank you, doris. >> by the way, doris is headed out to the "lincoln" premiere.

it was all because of her that this movie came together. you're happy with the movie? >> i love it. daniel day-lewis is lincoln. it's unbelievable. >> i can't wait to see it. great to see you. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> mike allen, thank you very much. rex ryan tops a new player poll rating him as the nfl's most overrated coach. we'll tell you what he had to say about that when we come back. >> that hurts. no, no, no, stop! humans -- one day, we're coming up with the theory of relativity, the next... stop, stop, stop! my car! not so much. but that's okay. you're covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement from liberty mutual insurance. total your car, and we give you the money to buy one

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we're going to do some picks real quick. we've got the finalists announced for baseball's big awards. we'll do a couple. angels' rookie phenom mike trout in the bunch vying for a.l. mvp joined by miguel beltre, josh hamilton and robinson cano. >> you can't not give it to the first triple crown winner since 1967. >> consensus. >> i mean, trout's a phenomenal player. >> he's a pretty good quitter. >> trout's an incredible player. >> he'll win a bunch. this one's a little tougher.

n.l. cy young, r.a. dickey. >> geobecause of his team. r.a. dickey, i'd give it to him, but the team didn't do well. >> you hold it against the team? he had a great season. >> i saw what he did for the team and how the team did. >> they won a lot when he pitched. go ahead. >> r.a. dickey. 20-game winner knuckleballer on a crappy team? >> the fact that he did that on the mets, willie, is really impressive. >> i'm with you, joe. all right. so you lose this one. >> i'm the outlier. >> the jets are, like, the most overrated team in the universe according to players. >> they're 3-5, not having a great season. turns out sanchez and tebow aren't the only jets that current nfl players think are completely overrated. in a recent poll conducted by "the sporting news," nfl players overwhelmingly chose rex ryan as the most overrated coach in the

league. similar poll showed tebow and sanchez coming in at one and two respectively. ryan addressed this at his press conference yesterday. >> my first thought was, you know, i looked and i saw who was second. i'm, like, hey, i finally beat belichick at something. we got him. i knew it would take time, but i finally got him, you know. yeah, man. golly. like it hadn't been a tough enough year. the overrated thing, you know, it is what it is. but i just want to be, you know, at the end of the year, we'll see who's overrated. >> he's got such a lousy team. and i've got to say, they're tough on sanchez. >> they are not good. >> how did they go from being one game away from the super bowl two years in a row to having just a horrible team? >> you could ask the same thing about the red sox. >> that hurts. where did that come from? >> there's snow on the ground. leave us alone. >> i'm sorry. a season ago and then last

season. how do you go from being -- >> my god, that hurts. >> look, i'm -- >> okay, heilmann -- man. >> "mika's must-read opinion pages" -- such a cranky old man -- you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

49 past the hour. a live look at capitol hill. >> can we just play the song? >> well, i'm actually going to read what jane harman writes for "politico." "what would wilson do?" i love this. if i can find it here. >> where were you, barnicle, when this song came out? >> where was i? >> yeah.

>> i was driving. yeah, i was driving. >> okay. a lot of young dudes. >> why are you so angry? >> come on, man, it's all the young dudes. >> are you talking to me? i'm sorry. >> big old dose of david bowie thrown in there. >> oh, my god, not the hoople. >> what would wilson do? >> willie, what's your must-read? i don't understand the cover. >> we're talking about the storm. >> what is that? >> this is the "new york post" coverage of the storm in the northeast. this is it. this is how they're covering it. "god hates us!" dot, dot, dot, but we have an angel. just a gratuitous shot of amanda kerr in a bustier of some kind i think we can call that. >> a bustier? >> sandy, now snow & ice. >> you've got to move papers somehow. >> wow. >> mika, now back to mika. >> jane harman. sorry, jane, about this. okay.

wilson was the first president since john adams to deliver his inaugural address in person to congress, and his interaction with policymakers didn't stop there. during the rest of his presidency, he frequently went to capitol hill to discuss important issues, and his face time paid off. the best way for any president to show that he respects the needs of lawmakers -- a key step towards compromise -- is to build personal relationships. starting with the lame duck session, it's essential that obama identify and court opinion leaders in congress. this includes not only committee chairs, but also newer members in both parties who may be experts on a given subject. it's retail politics. meals, plane trips and golf games. not stuff obama enjoys. wilson did it. they must, too. anyone disagree with that? >> well, we talked about this at length yesterday. i mean, the outreached hand. it's far difficult to continue these deep disagreements that so many people seem to have as

individuals over politics in congress when you know the person. >> yeah. >> you know, when you have a relationship with the person. you can disagree. look at the times we've disagreed, but we know each other, except for you. >> yeah. nobody really knows willie. >> yeah. >> a dark horse. >> he's remote. >> as nancy reagan said, i don't even know willie geist. >> international man of mystery. >> oh, wait. she said that about ronald reagan. talk about this. it sounds like the white house is responding to concerns over the past couple years, right now talking about the second term's going to be different. the president's going to reach out. >> look, i thought the president in the speech on tuesday night was, you know, laying the groundwork for that. i thought there were a lot of good things about that speech on tuesday night. i thought the notion of him going back to, you know, the rhetoric of the 2004 convention speech and trying to get -- trying to prepare the american people for the notion that he's going to be ready to compromise. he wants to compromise.

that he's going to have a different kind of approach to how he deals with the hill and deals with the governance, but also, you know, it's a pretty marked shift from the way the rhetoric of most of the campaign. you know, which was much more confrontational and partisan. on election night, he suddenly shifted back to what we think of the way obama presented himself at first to the country. i think they are trying to be -- they want to get stuff done. he wants to get stuff done in this next term. he really does. he cares about his legacy. >> at the top of the hour, speaker boehner talking about that as well. i'll be interested to hear your thoughts on the way he couched his comments. coming up, obama campaign senior adviser david axelrod will join us. more "morning joe" when we come back. welcome aboard!

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on tomorrow's show, senator chuck schumer will be he here. also james bond will join us on set. >> no way! >> yes. you may also know him as sir roger moore. and up next, msnbc political analyst richard wolffe is here. we'll be right back with much more "morning joe."

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everything okay? you seem a little down. >> it's just i really wanted to be president. i was going to create 12 million jobs. >> well, look, look, muck up. you created one job, except it was for me. >> all right, very funny. you got me. you know what? i'm just going to focus on the good times. remember that first debate? >> yep. you remember right now? >> burn notice. that one hurt. isn't this great? two of us getting along, sharing

a laugh. >> you know, it's almost like i'm expecting that "dawson's creek" theme to play. >> how's that go again? >> it's something like "i don't want to wait for our lives to be over." ♪ i want to know right now what will it be ♪ ♪ i don't want to wait for our lives to be over ♪ ♪ will it be yes or will it be ♪ sorry >> that was fantastic. top of the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." john heilemann is still with us. >> sorry. >> yeah, really. you should be. joining the set, msnbc political analyst and vice president and executive editor of msnbc.com. >> wow! >> richard wolffe. >> vice president. >> unbelievable. >> who's the top of that ticket? >> that's powerful. >> phil griffin. >> so richard -- >> very strong. >> let's talk about, you know,

we were just saying earlier last hour, it's very easy, as a republican, my first reflex is, you've got just a weak presidential candidate, that's why we lost. that's legitimate in the presidential race. but then you start digging down into the senate races, the state-by-state senate races, again, where you have to deal with a broader electorate than just a focused race. and we republicans lost race after race after race. and as john cornyn said accurately, it wasn't just one wing of the party. it wasn't just todd akin. it wasn't just richard mourdock, it was tommy thompson in a state where scott walker republicans dominated every state legislative race. there is something wrong with the national republican party. >> i think there are multiple things. there's a process question for start, primaries getting hijacked by the extremes when

they got no interest in reaching out to the middle. but there's also a policy, a position problem that the republicans face. and if you dig into those exit polls, you know, it's really easy to accept the conventional wisdom that people are generally conservative with a small scene. they don't like change a whole lot. they like things the way they are, generally. but if you look at the positions in the exit polls, you've got big majorities that are against the litmus test that ran through the republican primaries, on abortion, 50%, 60% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. so forget the extreme stuff about rape talk. just on the question of the exceptions that republican party is not, at its heart, where 60% of america is. it's not where 60% of america is on immigration reform, on finding a legal path for illegal immigrants. it's not where america is in terms of tax cuts. and tax hikes for the wealthy and for all americans. you've got big majorities who

are fundamentally not where republicans are. so both in terms of the primaries and the positions, there are some real soul searching for republicans to do. >> and john, when historians look back on this race, they are going to wonder how the republican party ended up with a wall street guy 3 1/2 years after one of the greatest wall street scandals and one of the greatest wall street collapses in american history. the party seemed to go out of its way over the past couple years to alienate the middle. >> yeah. and you know, look. i mean, mitt romney was an unlikely fit with this republican party in a lot of ways, you know. you think about a party that's mostly southern and mostly evangelical and mostly grass-roots populist now. he's not a populist. he's from the northeast. and a mormon.

when the party was most animated by opposition on health care. he was an odd choice in a lot of ways. the thing you said is most acute. it's the era of occupy wall street and the tea party and you've got a guy that represents more than anything the 1%. $250 million and a car elevator in his house and all that stuff. it just made it so easy for him to be caricatured and/or accurately presented by the obama campaign as someone who doesn't share your values. and if you look at those exit polls, in the end, president obama's likability was a huge factor for him. but also the fact that people did not, in the end, think that mitt romney would fight for them. that he understood their struggles. huge problem. you can't win in presidential elections like that. >> you know what occupy wall street and most of the tea party members have in common? they don't trust wall street. >> right. >> they just don't. >> that's what i mean. >> tea party's a follow-up on perot's united we stand group, and it is populist. it is not pro-business. it is -- there's a populist

strain running through it, and mitt romney offended both extremes. >> and somehow the president of the united states took that ground. i'm the champion. i'm the populist. i'm for the middle class. i'm the guy who's fighting it. but it was made very easy by having a guy who represented very well the 1%. that is a little revisionist, though. if you look back, who would you have rather had in that seat? if you talk about the primary process, would it have been better to have gingrich or santorum or perry or bachmann? who was the alternative at least this time around? who was it? >> i personally would say jon huntsman would have had the best chance. he couldn't get through the primary process. >> because they couldn't see his values. >> also, they started their campaign off doing something you probably shouldn't do, kicking your own party around. >> are you forgetting the hermanator? >> as richard said, the primary process rewards extremes in many cases. so how could a guy like -- let's

say jeb bush, this is just for argument's sake, 2016, how does he get through a primary process given his stances on things like immigration? can jeb bush survive that process? >> jeb bush can survive it, chris christie can survive it. it's just what i say on immigration reform. you don't go half in. you don't stick your toe in the water and then have a blogger write something nasty about you, then pull it back. you keep going in and you crush the blogger and you keep moving. and if somebody that's an extremist on talk radio attacks you, you march over them, and you keep going, and you try to pick up voters along the way. because for every one extreme voter you lose, you pick up four solid republicans in the middle. i said it. i wrote it back when herman cain and all of these other extremists were winning the republican primary. you know, extremists -- crazy never wins. crazy never wins. you know, richard, the problem

is mitt romney never had the courage of his convictions. he never had the courage to stand up to the extremes of his own party. >> the biggest voting bloc, self-identified voting bloc in those exit polls, are moderates. you know, we always say there aren't enough democrats alone out there. there aren't enough republicans. you cannot win a majority just with republicans. you've got to get moderates as part of your coalition along with your base. otherwise republicans and democrats, they're never going to win on a national stage. >> and with mitt romney, it was gaffe after gaffe, and some of them were just gaffes that alienated him and binders full of women, how he alienated the hispanic vote, it did not help him along the way. he could not help himself. but about the party overall, you talked about jon huntsman making a mistake by criticizing the party. what happens to republicans when they speak the truth about the party? you tell me because you know. what happens to a republican when they actually tell the truth about what the party needs to do? what's happening to chris christie right now? what happens? >> well, i think chris christie

gets rewarded. >> the party eats their young. >> no, no, the party -- the voters don't eat their young. you know, again, i won four elections, and i won them by large margins. >> do you think jon huntsman could have done better than mitt romney? >> oh, my gosh, yes. >> that's what i'm talking about. the party does not know what can help it win. >> mika, you asked me the question. let me answer the question. i get elected four times in four landslides, and i did it by going after aggressively any extremist on either side that came after me. most of the time i was attacking extremists on my own side more than the other side. and i won 90% of the republican party vote and a hell of a lot of independents and a lot of democrats because i did that. chris christie is going to be fine. he's going to win big in 2013, and there are going to be a lot of republicans that look at him and go, okay, let's see. we've got a guy that a couple of bloggers don't like, who won a

blue state twice in a row. he's got the highest approval rating of any republican governor in the nation. he's a tough talker. he is taking on entrenched union forces. >> i agree. >> in one of the most pro-union states, and he's won every battle. he is loved and respected by his base as well as by democratic leaders in the senate. yeah, he may be a good guy to expand the base. >> i hope they see it that way. but you made the very conclusion that jon huntsman spoke the truth about the party from the get-go, and that's what brought him down. >> jon huntsman's people went out of their way tweaking republicans, saying they didn't like science. there are better ways of doing it. bad subtraction. you don't want to engage in some traction in your own primary process. it's addition. the big tent. ronald reagan always said, i wear the white hat. and he always expanded his base. >> and john huntman had the fund

fej fundamental problem, he said, well, i'm a pragmatic, blah, blah, blah. you can't run in the republican party and not identify yourself as a conservative. republican party is the conservative party. >> you can run if you have a plan that's called 9-9-9 and you can run if you don't remember your last name and if you're former speaker of the house. >> those guys all lost. but those guys all lost. we're just talking about what john huntman could ha jon huntsman could have done to win. he alienated the party he was introducing him to at the outset. >> erick erickson and many other conservatives including myself said look at the guy's record. he's got the most conservative record. and he did have, of all the candidates -- >> you're talking about huntsman. >> -- huntsman. but here is one of the biggest setbacks, one of the biggest problems the republican party's had over the last four years, will willie. you are considered conservative -- the litmus test now for being conservative in

this republican party is not your position on abortion, your position on guns, your position on gay marriage, your position on taxes or your position on the debt. it's whether you hate the president or not. and you know what? i don't like saying that, but if you go out and say, i respect the president, i think he's a good man, as i do all the time, i think he's a great father, i think he's a great husband, i just disagree with him on virtually every policy, you're immediately a rhino. and that was one of huntsman's biggest problems. conservatives never stopped long enough to look at his record to see he had the most conservative record of everybody in the primary. they didn't like -- they didn't like his style. >> i think that's part of the reason anyway why mitt romney -- why conservatives never fell in love with mitt romney because he never went that far. i think they knew he was more moderate than he was letting on. and also that he did say things like the president has a good family. he's a good man. i just disagree with him. i don't think conservatives -- and you tell me -- felt like he

savaged the president enough. like he didn't bring out the knives sharp enough after the president. >> mitt romney? >> yeah. like it was never personal enough. >> well, i just remember talking to people very close to the president who said, who are they most afraid of? what candidate would they be most afraid of who could really give president obama a run for his money? it was jon huntsman. i guess republicans don't like winning either. i'm serious. >> the responsibility lies with the candidate to pull voters to him. and i will say in mitt romney's case -- >> yeah. >> -- mitt romney had 100 different sister soulja moments over the past three years he could have taken. when glen beck came out several years ago and called the president of the united states a racist who hated all white people, that would have been a great time -- and igsd said an the show -- to show he was

distancing himself from the hate or extremism. >> or when he called that woman a slut. it would have cost mitt romney nothing to say something more forceful to rush at that moment and yet he refused to do that. it would have helped them. very weak. very weak. >> they make a couple of really big mistakes. one was that they thought the anti-obama hatred would drive enough people to the polls. there just weren't enough -- there wasn't enough hatred out there to turn out enough people, number one. number two, they thought the economy would trump everything else. and in the end, the economy was picking up just enough to push the president over 50 points and weaken that argument. and republicans will not have that argument in 2016. last mistake, they didn't run on reform. mitt romney should have said, you know, washington's broke. and someone will still be able to do this in 2016 because it will still be broken. >> right. >> he should have gone in there saying we're going to fix this place because the other guy is

the creature of washington. he gave that up when he chose paul ryan. he should have said i'm the business guy. the governor. i'm going to choose another person from outside washington. we're going to ride in on a white horse and we fix the whole place. he didn't do that. he couldn't do that because he had to get stuck into all the budget questions that his veep choice had posed. those three things, we can talk about the small things, should he have said this, that or the other, if you're not a reformed candidate, you think hatred's going to be enough and you're relying on the economy, it's not going to be enough to carry you over the line. power is out to additional homes in the northeast as a powerful nor'easter dumps snow and rain on a region that's only started to recover. today's several inches of wet snow are threatening to topple already weakened trees. there's also renewed headaches for millions of commuters as bus and train service grinds to a crawl. hundreds of flights also kept at the gates at the airports as well. let's go to nbc meteorologist bill karins for a look at what

is unfolding now. bill. >> by itself, this nor'easter, very impressive for early-season snow. it's unheard of in most areas. on the heels nine days later of sandy, it's absolutely incredible that we're dealing with this. we just got word that central park in new york city officially 4.7 inches of snow. why is that significant? it's the earliest ever in 130 years of recordkeeping that new york city's had four inches of snow. this on the heels of remember last year at the end of october, they had two inches of snow, the earliest ever in history. new york city has been one of these places we've been flagging records left and right. as far as snow totals, connecticut got nailed, six-plus inches of snow up there. the jersey shore didn't do too bad snowwise, only a couple slushy inches, but power outages in central jersey were numerous as mika mentioned. let's show you where is the storm right now? it's just south of cape cod. if you have family or friends in eastern mass down there in the cape, the winds are howling this morning, up to 60 miles per hour. the power's been flickering on and off there. thankfully the snow portion is

over with. temperatures are warming up. but look at these wind gusts. martha's vineyard, up to 50. provincetown, almost 60-mile-per-hour gusts. we shouldn't any additional power outages in jersey, connecticut or western massachusetts. notice the temperatures. a lot of people are saying the main roads have greatly improved. the secondary roads are slowly improving. after the storm exits, mika, no new storms on the way. temperatures in the 40s today. 50s over the weekend. so we'll be all done with this white stuff shortly. >> unbelievable. bill, thank you very much. up next, nbc political director chuck todd. also san antonio mayor julian castro. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's,

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mr. president, this is your moment. we're ready to be led. not as democrats or republicans, but as americans. we want you to lead. not as a liberal or a conservative, but as president of the united states of america. we want you to succeed. let's challenge ourselves to find the common ground that has eluded us. let's rise above the dysfunction and do the right thing together for our country. >> we can achieve really big things when we work together. that's what the american people said last night in a big way. i'm going to do everything within my power to be as conciliatory as possible. i want to work together. but i want everyone to also understand, you can't push us around. we want to work together. >> okay. >> okay.

>> not quite as much graciousness from both the leaders of their collective -- >> i'm not hearing it. i'm not hearing it. >> it's going to be okay. i feel good. i feel good. the president -- the president is -- it's in the president's court. this is a move towards the center from both of them. i think we're going to be okay. >> so i'm sure -- i didn't see all of john boehner's, but i'm sure at the top he congratulated the president. >> with us now from washington, nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director and host of "the daily rundown," the man who has been cooking polls now for a year. >> cooking them. >> cooking them. >> stewing. >> cooking them -- >> he's not cooking them. >> the recipe worked. >> cooking them just to the right temperature. in fact, he is a master chef because he was right all along, and the conspiracy theorists were wrong. chuck, i woke up this morning and of course, your first reflex when you lose a big election, whether you're a democrat or a republican, you go, it's the guy

at the top of the ticket that caused the problems. mitt romney was not a good candidate, and we said that for a long time. he had a great first debate, but he just was a weak candidate. but then you dig in deeper and you start looking and say oh, gosh. we lost senate seats. we lost senate races that we should have won in montana, in missouri, in indiana. suddenly you look and as john cornyn said, we got wiped out at all ends of the ideological spectrum. even in wisconsin where republicans swept the state legislature again. >> right. well, look. sometimes it was a bad candidate, you know. and it didn't fit the times. i mean, i always had -- pick up wisconsin. i always had my doubts on tommy thompson, and i'll throw in virginia with george allen that it just felt, how are you going to make a change argument, right? you're running to get a democratic seat back in both

cases with people that have been in office off and on for a decade or more. in tommy thompson's case, almost two decades. in george allen's case, it was almost a decade when you throw in his governorship. how are they going to make some effective change argument? they've both been in washington in some form or another. sometimes it was candidate recruitment. but i'll tell you, i keep coming back, you know, the obama campaign had a secret government document that they used, i think, and the democrats took advantage of it. it was called the census, you know. when you look at everything that they pulled off, all they simply did is, you know, it's the willie sutton theory. you go where -- instead of money, they went where there were votes. and so they just kept finding where they knew they would have support. >> they went to their base. >> they registered new voters. they found hispanics. they registered them. >> we conservatives were skeptical four years ago about that census move to the commerce department.

chuck todd. another conspiracy theory. to cook up for the next four years. >> it's that secret document that's available to everybody. >> secret document. >> by the way. >> they were, you know, so -- i mean, i know you guys praised the chicago team a lot on the show yesterday, but -- >> can't praise them enough. >> for a year and a half, i'd go out and yomassena or david plouffe. we know where these people are. they had their offices built while romney was fighting republican primaries, spending money on other things, they were camped out in those nine battleground states, and they knew not just where the votes were but they knew where the potential votes were, they registered them and they were in constant contact with those people for almost two years. it's not even like we understand -- they knew what precise percentages of what each demographic they needed at any given turnout level. but they knew those people almost on an individual basis. they had personal relationships with a lot of these voters. hey, richard wolffe, let's take him to coffee tomorrow for our

monthly coffee because on election day, we're going to make sure richard gets to the polls. >> reporter: hey, heilmann, i'm sure you remember the powerpoint. let's take florida. joe, you'll love this. he would take this powerpoint and show it to reporters where he'd say let me show you the growth in non-cuban hispanics in florida. they knew exactly how demographically they were. and let me show you where they were. and they knew that they were going to pull this off. now, did they know they were going to win by 50,000 votes, but they knew how they could potentially get there depending on how turnout was for the republicans, things like that. but they were looking at this county by county for, as john said, for two years. >> on a very small level, really, really -- you know, when i first ran, i got the lists -- i had no money, but i got the lists of the voters that voted in the last two primary elections. if you went on that list, i

didn't talk to you for a year and a half. i would see all the other candidates waving at fairs and shaking hands, and i'd drive right by and wave at them and then i'd knock on individual doors. i had no money and i won. that was the focus. and you know what? when romney's people were talking about this emotional surge and we're going to see things -- see him sweep to victory, it didn't work because that's just not how we do it these days, i guess. the obama people showed us, it is a new ball game. >> to john's point and to your state, florida, i can recall speaking to a senior obama campaign official about six or seven weeks ago who was telling me about jim massena's model, plouffe's model that astounded him because he was used to an old get-out-the-vote operation and a fairly sophisticated operation, but he was telling me that they can now say, richard wolffe, we know what magazines richard gets.

we know that richard shops at costco. we know that richard's wife is a nurse. we know that richard likes us. we know that richard wants to vote for us. we know what websites richard goes to. and by the way, we've got to talk to you about that after. >> cnbc.com. what are you talking about? >> the depth of the research that they had on not only existing voters but people they wanted to register to vote, astounded him. >> we don't even know the full depth of it yet because they were doing stuff in the back room with that chief scientist. serious wizard stuff. where they were doing microtargeting at a level they've not yet disclosed. there's not full reporting on all the stuff they were doing with new media. they were spending a lot of money with a lot of data jockeys. this is a new world of campaigning, and they've done in two successive cycles. that's the other thing. >> they were spending their money on 30-second ads, and the obama team was spending it this way. and chuck, we are so used to being spun by campaigns that you

usually take the spin of one campaign and the spin of another campaign, and you mix them together, and you go somewhere in the middle. that's what i was trying to do as i was listening to both sides because the obama campaign was so confident. how many times have you seen campaigns that are that confident in the past that end up having a model that blows up in your face? but this year, the obama campaign was completely right. and the mitt romney campaign was just dead wrong. dead wrong on ohio. dead wrong on florida. dead wrong on everything they told us off the record. >> well, i'll tell you, part of it is they didn't believe -- the republicans did not believe the youth turnout. they did not believe that it would be as bad with hispanics, and they believed they would overperform. they really just believed that momentum would simply mean a few more voters would show up. you've got to go back, when it

comes to plouffe and massena and axelrod, you know, these guys -- i go back all the way to the primaries, back in 2007. you know, they are -- they let their data be their spin. and, you know, in the midterms when barack obama's not on the ballot, the data doesn't work as well. but when he's on the ballot, the data doesn't lie. >> you know, and it's funny, what chuck said, there was a call a week out, one of the conference calls where massena was criticizing the romney people. and it sounded like spin. in a pithy little phrase, they have the math and we have the myth. it turned out that was not only pithy and not only sounded spinny, but it was true. they had the math and the other side had the myth. >> just before we put a halo over all of these guys, it is important to remember that just two years ago, they were running an operation that absorbed the hardest hit, the biggest loss in

democratic history legislatively. just two years ago republicans won the largest majority in state legislators and national -- and congress in the history of this country, but as chuck todd said, when barack obama's on the top of the ticket, things work much better. >> effective coattails. chuck todd, thank you very much. >> thanks, chuck. great points. let's bring in now from san antonio, texas, the democratic mayor of san antonio, mayor julian castro. mayor castro, good to have you on the show this morning. >> good to be with you all. >> very good news for anyone in your city that likes high-quality pre-k. congratulations. >> that's right. thank you very much. on tuesday night, san antonioans voted to impose one-eighth of 1 cent sales tax to fund high-quality full-day pre-k for over 22,0004-year-olds in our

city over the next several years. so we're a city that believes that if you create opportunity for folks now, then we're going to see prosperity in the future. >> richard wolffe. >> i just think, you know, when you look at the proposition it was until this election, the democrats could not get elected promising to raise taxes on anyone. >> yeah. >> that was the conventional wisdom for years. and here you have the mayor and full credit to you for taking this to the people. and it is a minuscule tax rise. but to say that taxes have a purpose, that it's not just about extraction, it's about investment, i think that's a model for how democrats can move forward. it's not raising taxes for the sake of it. if taxes are done right, they should have a purpose. >> yeah. you know, one of the things that i've said in the past is that i don't believe that taxes are inherently evil. you know, they're a tool that if you use them well and if folks

know what they're getting and the elected officials are held accountable and you make a good investment, then it makes sense to folks and they're willing to do it. if you don't use folks' money wisely and they can tell, then, of course, it's a bad thing. but here, for the purpose of education in a state that ranks about 45th or 47th in terms of per-pupil spending, san antonioans could see that in order to have economic prosperity in the future in this 21st sentry global economy where brain power is the new currency of success, it made a lot of sense to invest this small amount for a big reward in the future. >> john heilemann? >> hey, mr. mayor, it's john heilemann. we've been talking a lot about demography on the show. texas has a huge and growing hispanic population. how many cycles is it going to be before that demographic trend makes texas a really competitive state for democrats on a statewide basis? >> that's the $64,000 question,

isn't it? i believe that it's going to be about six to eight years. what we see in texas and what you see in other states is that, of course, the hispanic vote is growing. i think in this election, this national election, that it was the only significant demographic group that both grew in terms of percentage of the overall vote and also delivered a higher percentage for the democratic candidate for barack obama. here in texas, the hispanic vote has been growing tremendously because hispanics accounted for 65% of the population growth over the last decade. we're going to see more and more democratic candidates get elected to local races, county races and, for instance, here in the san antonio area, for the first time in a long time, we saw a 32-county region elect three democrats out of five folks that were up. at the statewide level, it's going to take a little bit

longer. i would say the next six to eight years. >> all right. mayor julian castro, thank you so much. congratulations. >> great to be with you all. coming up, we talk to obama campaign senior adviser, david axelrod. >> oh, no. >> we'll be right back. >> here it comes. >> oh, no! customer erin swenson bought from us online today. so, i'm happy. sales go up... i'm happy. it went out today... i'm happy. what if she's not home? (together) she won't be happy. use ups! she can get a text alert, reroute... even reschedule her package. it's ups my choice. are you happy? i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. (together) happy. i love logistics.

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more than 66 million people tuned in across the country to watch the results of tuesday's election. and there were many more watching across the globe with an interested eye on what happened here in america. nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent, richard engel, has more on the global reaction to president obama's re-election. >> president obama has got another four-year term. [ speaking foreign languages ] >> reporter: the election was the lead story around the globe. >> a second term to the white house. >> reporter: the reaction in general, a sigh of relief. you could even see it trending worldwide on twitter. for china, president obama's victory represented welcome consistency. >> at least we can keep this

stable relations, no more questions for the next four years. >> reporter: there was enthusiasm from the leaders in europe where governor romney was unpopular after an awkward visit this summer. in the middle east -- >> really we are happy. it's a very good morning. >> reporter: -- there's hope that president obama will embrace the israeli/palestinian peace process in his second term the way he embraced the arab spring in his first. >> he has a chance to create a legacy. he's relieved now and freed from having to worry about getting re-elected. >> reporter: but the president's re-election drew a cool response from israeli prime minister netanya netanyahu. the two men are not close. a second term comes with a world of problems. >> for president obama, the most dangerous country in the world in his first term and in his second term will be pakistan. >> reporter: that's where bin laden was hiding, and it remains a safe haven for militant extremists.

syria is imploding and threatens to spread into a regional war. syrian rebels hope the president will now engage. the euro is in crisis. greek's rioting again. and of course, iran still pursuing nuclear ambitions despite crippling sanctions. many worry that could trigger another war. all right. coming up next, "time" magazine has an in-depth look at how the obama campaign outmaneuvered the republicans in crucial swing states. we've been talking about that. and we're going to keep talking about it and see what "time's" take is and also what we should expect from the president's second term. we've got rick stengel with us next and the new issue. [ boy ] there i was.

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45 past the hour. joining us now, "time" managing editor rick stengel is here with the latest issue of "time." >> hi, guys. >> what could it be? >> what could it be? the re-election of barack obama, a slightly chastened barack obama, his terrific speech on the night of his election, we've got more work to do. it's a fantastic double issue with many great stories including our history of the campaign and 100 objects which we've been working on for months and months, and including a story which you guys, i guess, were obliquely referencing this morning, michael scheerer's story about the data-mining operation at obama headquarters where he got a lot of details that hadn't been reported before including the fact they did 66,000 computer simulations a night about the election. they had a sample of 29,000 people in ohio. one half of 1% which is a gigantic sample that they used

over and over. and what they did finally was unite the databases that they had had from the first campaign, the fund-raising database, the polling database, all into one gigantic database. that explains it all. >> yeah. >> we've heard much about -- >> the president helped a little bit. the president was helpful. >> he was putting a lot of information in the database, too. >> well, i think, though, the president didn't even know. >> no. >> how large this operation was. >> yeah. >> it was remarkable. and a lot of data mining, like you said, is just unprecedented in american politics. >> absolutely unprecedented. and by the way, it's used more in industry, you know, proctor & gamble, i bet, has a fantastically gigantic database. and that's part of what was smart about the obama campaign is they used things that had been working in business for them, and the scale of it was just astonishing. >> you have to always keep in

mind that it's even more complicated than that. that's obliquely referencing in terms of the president. you've got all that data and data mining and you're also calibrating message, calibrating advertising against message, calibrating advertising and message against what you're seeing in terms of voter movement. all the focus groups they did in addition to all the regular polling they did. it's a very complicated thing that's going on. >> yes. >> and then policy decisions that the president was making in order to inform the message that would then drive the advertising and the microtargeting and all that stuff. you know, it's a complicated operation. >> yes. in fact, the piece starts out with the notion that they discovered that the single thing that got more people to contribute particularly women was this opportunity to have dinner with george clooney. so they just doubled down on that. and that's what gave them the idea to do dinner with sarah jessica parker here in new york. >> right. >> wow. >> we'll get what to watch for in 2016 in just a second.

i noticed mark halperin's piece, you can't underestimate the auto bailout and how it turned out to be fortuitous on so many levels especially given the fact that mitt romney ended up being -- >> yes, and it helped them in that demographic group that the president has always struggled in, as all democrats have struggled with in the last several cycles is white men. there were white men in ohio that were more inclined to vote for the president than before because of the auto bailout. >> and you also, i think, are going to have a lot of republicans, a lot of people inside the romney camp questioning the ad at the end of the campaign that just took tremendous liberties with the facts of the auto bailout. >> no. and by the way, one function of people having been barraged with so many thousands of ads is they do become experts on the ads and they do have a way of evaluating them. if there's one things americans know how to do is watch commercials and evaluate them. i think that ad in particular struck a wrong chord with people. >> you think about ohio where,

you know, there was all this debate about how much romney's supposed momentum was stopped by the hurricane. in ohio, that ad, having the heads of chrysler and gm come a campaign in ohio in the last week probably did more damage to romney in ohio than anything having to do with sandy. >> you could also take that to other states, too. michigan. in wisconsin and other states where it had an impact across the midwest. it really had big blowback. so faces to look for in 2016? you guys have already -- >> i think you're going to show something up there. our fantastic photographer did portraits of -- there's hillary clinton. let's see who else comes up next. marco rubio. jeb bush. governor chris christie. you see right there in profile. all these folks came by the office to pose for pictures.

joe biden. and again, in our world, people start talking about 2016, the day after the election in 2012 and folks like andrew cuomo are undoubtedly thinking about their future so we wanted to give a portfolio to readers to see who's coming up. condoleezza rice. bobby jindal. i don't see joe scarborough there. he didn't pose. >> you said everybody there agreed to come in and pose for photos. how was that set up? i'm just curious. how was the ask of that set up. >> we said for the election issue we're going to do something that's looking ahead to the next four years and we put together a list of people and -- not everybody cooperated. >> i was going to say. >> who didn't cooperate? >> who didn't cooperate. i don't recall. >> and why? i think that's interesting. >> what's fascinating is, these people sat down. that is a tip of the hat to

"time" and your readers if they're thinking about running for president. jeb bush who has been reluctant publicly. if he's coming to sit down to get this portrait taken and jeb bush is thinking about running. as is hillary. as are the rest. >> that's an assumption you can make, joe. >> i think we have very safe assumption if you told them come in, we'll take your picture on our election special looking forward. right? >> is that how the ask went out? >> the ask was, we want to photograph people who will be influencing the republican party and the democratic party over the next four years. >> that's fascinating! >> that's a hedge. i can tell a hedge when i see one. >> i don't mind hedging. hedging is find. i just don't want to put anyone in a position where they say, hey, i'm not running for president in 2016. that's not what you guys said. >> yeah. well -- >> that's fascinating! >> if you want to see who's thinking about running for president in 2016 and who

actually came to "time" and actually sat down, i think condi rice is fascinating. >> she did not come to the office. we went and shot her out in california. >> rahm emanuel -- i don't know rahm was an ambitious man. i never saw that coming. >> bobby. all of our friends are here. marco. look at that. martin. >> martin o'malley. how surprising. >> very good. rick stengel, this is fascinating. thank you so much. >> thank you, guys. >> i'm sure you thank us. >> get the issue on the president's re-election and who really, really, really wants to be president. >> oh, come on! wanna see me get some great deals?

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the election leaves fresh questions about the future of the republican party. up next, what the gop needs to do to appeal to the middle. that and bill karins with a check of the nor'easter slamming the east coast while millions remain without power. "morning joe" returns in just a moment. [ knock on door ]

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good morning. it is 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. on the west coast. a live look at new york city. wake up, everybody. back with us on set, mike barnicle and john heilemann. we have a weather story to start with. >> this is the new normal. across the northeast in connecticut last year we had a hurricane first, and then we had a snowstorm at the end of october. the same thing's happened again. the fact that people on long

island, people on staten island, people across new jersey have no power right now and are having to deal with another nor'easter. they're shivering in their homes instead of what we always did in florida which was sweat in our homes. >> in some places there's no place for people to go. it is a pretty devastating situation along the new jersey shorelines and parts of new york. we begin this morning with hundreds of thousands of americans remaining without power during an unseasonably cold spell in the east adding to the damage left by hurricane sandy. a nor'easter blew through the east coast yesterday dumping snow and rain on a region that's barely begun to dig out from sandy. several inches of wet snow are threatening to topple already weakened trees. power was knocked out to some 60,000 homes in newark and new jersey overnight, many of of which had just had their service restored after many days in the dark. there's also renewed headaches for millions of commuters as passenger trains grind to a halt

and at least 1,300 flights are kept at the gates at the airports. let's go to nbc meteorologist bill karins for a look at what's unfolding here. >> before you get to details, to joe's point there, nine days apart between these two events. you go back through history of hurricane landfalls, i can almost guarantee, i don't think anyarea has seen a snowstorm nine days after they dealt with a storm surge like we had with sandy. it is just ridiculous that it even happened. shows you how rare of a times we are in. the fact you think about what happened to this region the year before that with irene, then that freak halloween snowstorm? kind of does make you scratch your head. let me get to details this morning to get you out the door. a lot of schools have delays because the snow is ending, temperatures are warming up. we're supposed to go into the 40s today. that's why a lot of people didn't get snow cancellations out there. the storm itself, you see that little spin just south of the islands. it is still very close there to cape cod. as far as the snow totals,

really impressive for this time of year. we talked 6 to 12 inches in many areas of central and western connecticut who were by far the hardest hit. high totals in new jersey. even new york central park, almost five inches of snow this time of year is virtually unheard of. it was a heavy wet snow and there were some downed trees. i mentioned the winds. if we're going to get any more damage this morning, it is out there on cape cod. they're kind of battle tested out there. used to 50 to 60-mile-per-hour gusts. in general things will improve. temperatures are already above freezing. this afternoon we get into the 40s. airports will be running. throughout the late morning and afternoon, roads will dramatically improve and tomorrow looks to go up into the 50s. there are no other storms on the horizon. we actually warm up to the 50s and 60s towards the weekend. historically rare. nine days apart is just ridiculous. >> it is ridiculous, bill. again, you look at what happened last year where we had a hurricane in september. again, in new england.

then a snowstorm three weeks later. now it's nine days apart. we're looking at these pictures. >> this is what's supposed to be inside people's homes. >> inside people's homes. bill, you and i have actually -- gosh. we've gone through actually a lot of hurricanes together. certainly when i was in florida talking about them. and you usually deal with a hurricane and i've probably been through five, six, seven in my lifetime. you're used to the power going out and basically taking off as many clothes as you can, wearing shorts around the house, because you're sweating. it's 95. it's human. it is just miserable. but that is so much better now than what people are facing. this is a nightmare scenario. if you've never been through a hurricane -- and even my friends in florida that have been through so many. i can't imagine the pain and misery and suffering that people across this region are experiencing right now without

power, with freezing temperatures, with snowstorms. this is so dangerous. >> you live in new england. we haven't been hit by a lot of hurricanes but historically they have happened throughout history. if they do, typically they're in the month of september. sandy was about a month later than what maybe we typically would find a hurricane, and this nor'easter was about a month earlier than we would typically find a nor'easter. so in just the weather patterns, just the extremes, really are getting everyone's attention. >> we'll follow this throughout the morning. bill, thank you very much. turning to politics now. aside from the presidential race, we're going to dig further into the significant races in the senate where democrats had some big wins on tuesday and also a lot of women are now joining the fray. in virginia, former governor tim kaine beat former senator george allen. voters in massachusetts selected elizabeth warren to replace incumbent scott brown for the seat formerly held by the late ted kennedy. in north dakota, heidi heitkamp

won the u.s. senate seat there. in montana's u.s. senate race, jon tester held off a tough challenge from congressman denny rehberg. senator claire mccaskill beat back congressman todd akin after his candidacy was derailed about a xlent abo a comment about legitimate rain. >> let's just leave that one up there. the lone republican sitting not only at this table but in this zip code, thank one todd akin. thank you for selfishly putting yourself above your party and the values that you claim to hold dear. you just gave up yet another senate seat for the republican party to harry reid. todd? thanks a lot, pal. the rest of the world knew you were going to lose and you decided to do it anyway. >> i'll add to that, if i could, just to be completely annoying, i'm sure. you but thank you, todd akin and richard mourdock and thank you

republican party for not breaking their arms and instead focusing on people like chris krity who a tt tty christie for job. >> we are all basically in the zone for 48 hours where reading information as it comes in, we're on the air more than we're not. i just woke up early this morning and i can explain the presidential race. i've been explaining it for two years. we had a very flawed guy at the top. if it were only that easy. you have to look though at the senate race to see just how devastated the republican party's brand has been over the past year. and look at these senate races. one by one by one. as john cornyn said, you can't blame one wing of the party because the entire party had people from all different wings getting slaughtered yesterday. again, in senate races. >> well, yes. and i think it is a branding problem and it is more than a

branding problem because the branding problem is connected to problems of substance. todd akin should have stepped down but he shouldn't have ever been the nominee of the party in the first place. he made a ridiculous horrific statement but he sponsored legislation that was -- that rose out of the beliefs that made him make that statement and what has happened with your party, unfortunately, is that -- we've talked about this on the show before increasingly -- the most conservative person no matter how nuts they are is the person who wins republican primaries now. that's not a way to win in purple states or in blue states. you can still win in red states sometimes with the most conservative person but in a state like missouri which is still basically a purple state or a state like indiana which went for obama in 2008, if you nominate the most conservative person on the farthest right wing of your party that person is going to get beat by a reasonable democrat. that's what's happened. >> it is a shame. there was a time when republicans -- when even conservatives would listen to the wisdom of william f.

buckley, that would always say you don't elect the most conservative guy or woman. you elect the most electable conservative guy. get them as conservative as you can. but a guy that can win in northwest florida like myself by 80%? is not the guy you want to nominate in southern california. >> what did hayry barber say about jim jeffers? >> again, during this presidential process when i was asking olympia snowe -- or asking a candidate about olympia snowe. are you glad she's in your party? he wouldn't answer. and then we asked haley who said, hell yeah! i'm glad olympia snowe's in our party. i wish jeff jeffards was, too. he's going to be more conservative than anybody that can get elected in vermont. >> what's the time frame here? is it the republican party has perhaps a year-and-a-half to sort of figure out what

direction they're going to head in? a year-and-a-half before the leaders of the republican party go to the front window of the club that they belong to, open up the drapes and look out on main street and see the reality of life in america? >> this happens all the time. i remember getting elected in 1994 and "u.s. news & world report" had a cover talking about the end of the democratic party. you remember 1980? people were saying the same thing about the end of the democratic party. two years later in 1982, democrats had a massive landslide victory. the same thing happened in 1996. bill clinton got elected. these things come and go and parties adjust and this republican party will adjust. remember -- >> it needs to adjust. >> remember, two years ago -- and i hate to say this -- i mean i've been saying this for four years. two years ago republicans picked up historic gains in off-year elections. i said, yeah, we did that in 1994. then we lost in 1996. and the same thing has happened.

the question is, willie, do they adjust? alec baldwin had a hilarious quote. did you see this quote? >> yeah. which one? >> yeah. what was his exact quote? >> something like -- you know your party's in trouble when you have to ask how did the rain guy do and you have to say which one? >> i can't hammer this home enough. i've done it for four years. there is a difference between off-year elections and presidential elections. republicans can win in off-year elections because the electorate shrinks, the pool shrinks. but, when you get in presidential elections, it's a rising tide. >> it's a deeper electorate. >> it is a much different electorate. >> and it is not something that's going to be reversed overnight. i mean they lost 70% of latino voters two nights ago. as we said yesterday, you can't just put marco rubio out four years from now and say, look,

we've changed. there actually has to be change on immigration reform or whatever they're going to do. it has to come from a place of meaning, not just something that's superficial. >> the democratic party was in this place after 1988. they lost three successive presidential elections and the party was out of step with america. it had this retrograde base that was dragging it down and it wasn't are where the vital center -- >> the san francisco democrats. >> yes, right. the old labor base and all that stuff. it was a mess. and you needed to have a modernization of the democratic party. bill clinton led that modernization. the dlc took the democratic party and made it electable again in national elections. presidential election years with the big elect traoratelectorate. not the small electorate. coming up, "the generals" best selling author will be here to explain america's greatest military leaders an why he says many of today's generals aren't

up to par. up next -- florida, florida, florida. florida, florida, florida! >> i heard something that hurt me. willie geist actually said that florida didn't matter on "way too early." well, my nose and face disagree. recount! they're talking about a recount. >> i don't want to see this. >> well, i do. >> obama senior campaign advisor david axelrod is here to try to settle his bet with joe. apparently you have to grow a mustache. i'm going to try and prevent this. i have a hope, a diplomatic solution. we'll be right back.

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♪ wasted days and wasted nights ♪ >> i will come on "morning joe" and i will shave off my mustache of 40 years if we lose any of those three states. >> so if you lose minnesota -- >> you're not allowed to -- >> -- michigan or pennsylvania, you will shave off that mustache. >> on the show. >> yes. about what i should do with you that you'll grow a mustache. >> i will grow a mustache if you guys win florida or north carolina. is that a deal? >> florida and/or north carolina? >> and/or north carolina. >> all right! >> wow. >> okay. and in florida -- oh! no! >> here comes the stash.

we're talking about a recount. >> we're not going to have a recount but wait until we can call florida. joining us, senior obama campaign advisor, david axelrod. first of all, david, i'm still trying to figure out a diplomatic solution and i think david and i have worked it out because both sides can work together if you cooperate. but first, john heilemann, your magazine -- >> well, yes. >> show us the options. >> we have some video of various options that scarborough -- one of the top -- on the top left there, that's the gene shalit look. the next one i believe is the tom sellick look. next, john waters also in the top as you move across. there's ron swanson in the upper right. on the bottom, you move down, that's john stossel on the far left. moving across, the geraldo. borat is right there. i like the borat look.

then we have groucho marks. and finally, the salvador dali. >> david axelrod, i've been talking with you and your wife -- >> ask david. which one do you think i should sport? >> which one, david? >> any will do. here's what i have to say to you. fired up, ready to grow. that's what your -- >> because what happens is you have people who are really good diplomats who work behind the scenes. and i know your wife and i don't want to see -- and you don't want to see me sitting next to him with a mustache. that's just not going to work for me. i'm sorry. >> i've actually, mika, gotten a lot of concerned e-mails since election day from your viewers. >> exactly. >> agonizing about having to watch this ordeal as it unfolds. >> the whole thing is hideous. yeah. >> what are we going to do? >> it will be like eddie

haskill. david, i think i could offer you some of joe's money toward cure? what number? what are we thinking? what do we need? >> all right. here's -- by the way, mika comes from a family of diplomats and it is obviously the skill she's employed here but, i think that if joe is willing, if joe is willing to give $10,000 for epilepsy research and anybody who's interested in this should go to cure dp epilepsy.org. you guys know the story. my daughter's life, a really damaged by epilepsy. 50,000 people a year die. so epilepsy research is the cause of my life. if joe's willing to do that, if you guys are willing to host a fund-raiser for cure for epilepsy research -- and -- if for one day -- just one day joe selects one of those mustaches that john heilemann laid out for him and wears a fake mustache on

the show, i will let him out of his obligation here. >> well -- >> i think that's a fair deal. >> my lawyers tell me that, first of all, there is a big question regarding "and/or." also, florida, there may be a recount. that said, because we're happy that -- >> take the deal! take the deal, boss! take the deal! >> one caveat. i will wear the mustache and sing the freddie fender song of your choice at the event itself. but not on the air. >> all right. >> and i'll give you $10,000. is that a deal? >> that is a deal. let me say this. i'm going to take your $10,000 and we're starting a drive on the cureepilepsy.org site called slash the stash. if we can raise a million dollars, i will still shave the mustache off. at least i'll feel good about

shaving it off. because it will go to a worthy cause. >> let me explain. so slashthestash.com. mika and i are going to raise a million dollars. >> we need a million dollars for a cure and david will lose it. >> after you get a million dollars for epilepsy research and cure, you're going to cut your mustache off here on "morning joe." deal? >> i will do it. let me just say, i had an idea about this, which is i know that donald was putting $5 million up. i think in a foolish cause. so if he's watching, i think that would be a better use of his money. >> i think that would be a great use of the donald's money. $5 million. that would be fantastic! i'm going to call him and ask. >> if barnicle and i put in $5,000 each, can one of us be the guy who applies the shaving cream and the other the one who wields the -- >> not enough money. ax needs to raise the price here. >> i want in on this! >> best selling author, can you

do more than $5,000 to put the shaving in -- >> and gross. >> and frankly, a little disturbing, too. maybe we should move on. >> whatever makes the money. >> deeply disturbing. >> let's wrap this up and be very serious. first of all, on the mustache bet, i'm going to give you $10,000 despite the fact that i think the recount may change things. >> good job, joe! >> i'm a man with a big heart. as hard as the montana sky which you guys managed to win the senate seat. i'm going to give you $10,000 for the cure, wear a mustache at a cure event that we host, i'm going to sing the freddie fender song of your choice. the bigger issue is, a million dollars, we're going to help raise a million dollars for the cure and then you're going to cut your mustache off here. >> yes, i'm ready. >> i'm going to need your wife in a bag way. david, does the money and

slashthestash.com, can people start giving right now adding to this million? >> right now. go to cureepilepsy.org and slashthestash.com. you'll find out exactly what cure epilepsy does and find out how it is not only impacted the axelrods' life but has impacted so many americans and people across the world. i know that personally what this does to people's lives. little jack has a girl that's in his class, pre-k class, who unexpectedly had a seizure and the family immediately asked me if they could call the axelrods. they did. there are so many people out there that have so many questions. this is critical an issue. >> let me get some housekeeping done for david here. we'll call ann, can she help with hosting the benefit? >> ask david if she can help. >> i think she can.

will she? yes, she will. $5,000, $5,000. donny deutsch, $10,000, please? thank you. i'll call him. i think we're good. >> let's go back to the election. john heilemann, we'll give you the first question. and not the razor. >> david, we've been singing your praises here all morning and i think justifiably so for the incredible campaign you ran. congratulations. obviously a huge accomplishment. >> thanks. >> so many things you guys -- i was talking to you guys monday morning in madison, you were laying out what you thought would happen. almost all of it happened exactly as you and david plouffe laid out. was there anything about the election that surprised you, either positive or negative, playing out in a way different from the way your model suggested they would play out on tuesday? >> you know, actually, no. i mean the dominos fell exactly as we had forecast. let me just say, i accept your congratulations. i'm accepting it on behalf of an

incredible team of people, including these brim yalliant analytics guys that looked at the data and really laid out where they thought we were. a great pollster and team of pollsters who are terrific. we really had a good sense going into this election of where our opportunities were and how this was likely to go. as soon as the votes started coming in and we matched them up against the model, we were well convinced that the thing was going to go according to plan. >> david, you guys were confident days before, even weeks before. i know a little bit of concern after the first debate. but soon after that you knew that it wasn't about crowd sizes, it wasn't about emotion even in the crowds. it was about numbers and voter contacts. right? >> yes. although i will say, i traveled with the president in the last four days and it really was a

great affirmation that this was going to be a good day. we had wonderful crowds, tremendous emotion, and it was -- you could see this thing welling up. but we also had great organizations in everyone of these states, millions of volunteers around the country and great staffs in these states and they all were supremely confident. they knew what their targets were. they were exceeding them. the early vote was incredibly encouraging. registration, we registered over a million new voters and in key places and that helped. so i give credit to jim mussina, plouffe always lurking around the scene. everyone had had had a very, very well designed plan, and that plan goes back not months, not weeks or months but a year-and-a-half. this has been a plan that's been in place for a year-and-a-half and so many people were involved

in executing it. >> david, listening to the congressional leaders yesterday, it did sound like everyone's idea of compromise was getting the other side to come over to them. even with your big win, how are things going to be any different if you listen to the way the political leaders talked yesterday? what is going to change? >> richard, as you you say that, i was thinking about richard mourdock in indiana who famously said compromise is when they agree with us. i note that he's not on his way to the united states senate. i don't think that's a way forward for the country. so everyone's going to have to come to the table in the spirit of getting something done. but on this issue of particularly the fiscal cliff, one thing -- people -- presidents always say, well, i had a mandate, i had a mandate. that's a foolish word and it's generally untrue. but the president did campaign

all over this country. he talked about it in debates. he talked about it in speeches on the need for balanced deficit reduction that included some new revenues. and he was re-elected in a significant way. so i think that hopefully people will read those results and read them as a vote for cooperation and will come to the table. obviously everyone's going to have to come with an open mind to these discussions but if the attitude is -- nothing happened on tuesday, that would be unfortunate. >> hey, david, the open mind phrase, what about the open door phrase. what are the odds of an open door becoming more available in the white house to more republicans and democrats coming down to see the president and the people in the white house who are going to deal with the fiscal cliff. what are the odds of the president of the united states getting in the car and traveling up to capitol hill on a frequent

basis over the next three to four weeks, extending his hand and opening up, you know, doors in the capitol to people on both sides of the hill to this crisis that we all face? >> mike, the back door is open. it has been open. i spent two years in the white house. i saw republicans coming in and out and i traveled with the president to the hill. back in 2009, he was on the way to capitol hill to talk about the recovery act when the house republican caucusish aud a isi release saying they were going to vote en masse against it. we want people walking in both ways. i've known barack obama for 20 years. i watched him in the illinois state senate. i watched him in the united states senate and i worked by his side in the white house.

i don't know anybody who is more willing to work with people from whatever political party and whatever background and whatever persuasion in order to move things forward. i know that he's going to bring that spirit to this as we deal with this and other issues. what we want to do is break that misguided notion that somehow obstruction is a winning strategy and that partisanship should take precedence over progress. hopefully this election will help do that. >> david axelrod, thank you on many levels. it was very kind. i like our bet and where it's gone. >> finally, mika, thank you so much, all of you, for all of your support for curing epilepsy. your friendship means more than i can ever say. >> well, it continues. >> thank you so much.

mika, being a brzezinski is a diplomat, but also like her father, she's tough and immediately writes stuff down. >> barnicle and halprin -- an $5,000. donny $10,000. joe $10,000. will larry help? $5,000? $5,000 for larry. ann? i like it. okay. >> mika, not since jerry lewis. >> mika -- >> susan, count the money. >> you put in a "5" along with larry. we're on our way to $1 million. you can help, too, at home. cure epilepsy. it really is obviously david is extremely happy that the president of the united states

was re-elected. but this has been, and always will be the cause of his life and susan axelrod's life. cure epilepsy. go there. or also go to slashthestash.com. we're raising a million dollars for epilepsy and the cure. david axelrod, thank you so much. we appreciate your friendship as well. coming up next, do we have too much faith in our military generals? best selling author tom ricks is on today. he'll tell us why he says today's military leaders don't stack up to america's greatest generals. he's up next talking about his book on "morning joe." ♪ these are...

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38 past the hour. here with us now, contributing editor through foreign policy magazine, tom ricks, author of "the generals." not everything that you found is necessarily that great about modern day generals today. >> before we go there, start with the model general. you say the model general was general george marshall who gave his generals a few months to succeed, die or be relieved.

>> that was accountability. that was the way they worked in world war ii. you get out there and if you can't do the job, we will get rid of you. 155 division commanders in the army in world war ii. of the guys who commanded, 16 were fired. what -- it was a darwinian process. very hard-nosed, not gentle. and they moved up guys who could succeed which is why we know names today like ridgway, gavin and eisenhower. eisenhower began 1940 as lieutenant colonel, executive officer of an infantry regiment. marshall reached out and said that's who you need to be supreme allied commander. >> how did marshall rise the way he rose without going to battle. having the battle scars of world war i or world war ii. >> it was interesting. marshall didn't know him particularly well. all he knew was that eisenhower had been an aide to macarthur in the philippines in the 1930s,

which was not a big boost. he rose so quickly. first of all, because the guy who was having plans in the army on pearl harbor day kind of blew up on the launchpad marshall said get that highsen hour guy in here. they called him up from texas, said get up here. he sat on a suitcase on a train. brigadier general eisenhower, newly promoted. he came up, he walked into marshall's office one week after pearl harbor, december 14th, 1941. marshall looked up and said, tell me how to fight the war in the pacific. eisenhower said how long do i have? >> wow. >> marshall said, this afternoon. that afternoon eisenhower put on marshall's desk a three-page memo. here's the strategy with the pacific. marshall read it, said looks good to me. now tell me how to implement it. that's eisenhower's beginning. >> wow. >> tom, if you could speak to the differences between what you were just talking about, eisenhower and that time frame. obviously huge differences in

the size of the american military and the objective, always the military needs an objective, as opposed to today, the contentiousness between branches of the military and the seemingly lack of objective as it applies to these generals. >> it is harder in these smaller, unpopular wars to know what success looks like. world war ii was pretty clear what we were doing. korea, vietnam, iraq, these have been messy, small, unpopular wars. that said, we still knew what success looked like when david petraeus achieved it in iraq. i think his mission was to get us out of iraq and he achieved it. >> was petraeus a great general? >> i think petraeus is a terrific general. >> what about tommy franks? >> i call him in my book a two-time loser. most generals only get a chance to screw up one bwar, he screwe up two -- afghanistan and iraq. here's a guy who thought it was a net gain to push al qaeda from afghanistan into pakistan, who thought it was a good idea to

let osama bin laden escape. the cia said put a regiment of army rangers on the pak border to stop the escape and franks and donald rumsfeld said no. we could have gotten bin laden had they followed the cia's repeated request in late '01 to capture al qaeda. tony franks thinks capturing the enemy's capital is the end of the war. in both afghanistan and iraq, it was actually the beginning. >> what about colin powell? obviously one of the most well known generals for political reasons, as well as military reasons. how does he rank as a general? >> mixed. he's an eisenhower-like figure -- smart, ambitious, a good negotiator. but he -- >> a good implementer? >> he's an eisenhower without a marshall. in the 1991 war, he doesn't have any overarching strategy. they don't know how to end the war. so we go in, we fight a great battle, everybody said, hey, 1991 gulf war -- great victory. that actually is the beginning

of a 20-year war with iraq. >> tom, what's military leadership like now in afghanistan? still there. how do you rate the leaders? >> the marine general in command right now, john allen, is a fine general. interesting figure. he told me once if he hadn't been a marine general he would like to be an archaeologist. his hero in life is gertrude bell. that said, we've had 11 commanders in iraq in 11 years. that's nuts! rotating commanders in. warren buffett once said if you've been playing poker for half-an-hour and you don't know hot patsy at the table is? you're the patsy. >> but 11 years. >> by putting commanders in every year, we basically make our commander the patsy at the table. everybody else knows where all the bodies are hid. can you imagine in '43 if marshall had said to eisenhower or '44, hey, you've been there

18 months. let's give somebody else a chance. no, it took marshall and eisenhower a lot to learn in '44. they learned from their mistakes. that's the greatest characteristic of world war ii, learning quickly. if you rotate commanders in every year, no matter how much they learn -- pt wisdom is never put to use. imagine running a corporation and changing the ceo every year? >> let's talk about how the ceos are selected in the pentagon. obviously eisenhower was coming of age in the military. you rose through the ranks differently for different reasons than you do now. rewards and punishments then versus now are radically different. aren't they? >> they are. marshall invents the modern super power military. when he takes over as army chief of staff september 1, 1939, the army has about 180,000 people, including the air force. which is part of the army then. he takes it up to 9.5 million over five years. so it is a huge expansion. he makes it look easy almost.

but back then, there was a very clear system of incentivizing success. there was accountability. these days there is not accountability for generals. the raw material is not bad for generals. there are a lot of smart, ambitious, hard working guys. the problem is, there's no incentive to take risk. there's no incentive to succeed. everybody veers towards mediocrity because that's the way to get through. >> wow. tom ricks, thank you very much. the book is "the generals -- american military command from world war ii to today." fascinating. >> thank you, tom. >> you're welcome. >> appreciate you being here. up next, business before the bell with cnbc's brian schactman. ♪

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welcome back to "morning joe." it is time for "business before the bell" with cnbc's brian schactman. brian, what was behind the market's big sell-off yesterday? >> obviously there's some concern about what's going to happen with the fiscal cliff. it is my least favorite term in the world right now. but also europe came back into focus. rioting in greece, a general strike and sentiment from the ecb head that basically germany could get dragged down into recession over this and we were down 320 points. we're up a little bit today, guys. jobless claims at 355,000, down about 8,000. that's pretty good news. two other items to note. one serious, one not-so-serious. here at cnbc in the business world we're parsing mitch mcconnell and john boehner like you guys are to see what realistic possibility there is to get some sort of deal, whether it will be in the lame duck or will continue to kick the can down the road. that's the discussion. and also i don't know what your habits are for thanksgiving.

generally speaking, black friday is when people go shopping, crazy people get in line and that's when the companies turn into the black for the year. walmart is setting 8:00 p.m. as the start of their sales on thanksgiving day! >> oh, my goodness. >> that is when my kids are in bed and i sneak back into the fridge for number three helping. >> wow. 78:00 p.m. the previous day. >> brutal. >> that's awful! >> that's family time. >> hey, brian, thanks so much. we appreciate it. we'll be right back. humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance,

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you guys are really strange. that's all i'm going to say. on tomorrow's show, senator chuck schumer will be here and actor sir roger moore joins us on set. up next, what if anything did we learn today? capella university understands businesses are trying to come

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welcome back to "morning joe." mika, what did we learn today? >> what i learned today is the mustache challenge has turned into a good cause for cure epilepsy. help us meet our $1 million goal. visit slashthestashe.com or

cureepilepsy.org. joe will be donating money as well as performing at an event. if we raise a million dollars -- which can you start right now -- david axelrod will shave his mustache on our show! >> joe is going to wear a fake mustache on air -- >> not on air. at the event. you got to go to the event. >> you missed the deal. i'll do it for a few minutes. >> barnicle? >> i learned that to your great credit, joe, there's no end to the humiliation that you len dure for a good cause. >> excellent. maybe i care too much. >> thanks for giving money, barnicle. >> 11 commanders in 11 years in afghanistan and we wonder why we don't have a strategy. >> the turnout operation by team

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